Inspired by The Power of Habit.
On Tuesday, Oct. 6th, I picked up a book I had purchased a few years ago from Kinokuniya. This book had never been completed by me, and fate would have it that I chose it at random from among the many books on my shelf, and began reading it from the start.
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do and How to Change by Charles Duhigg.
It's a fascinating read right from the preface, and its basic premise is that habits explain why we do what we do on a daily basis. From brushing your teeth to more complex habits such as reversing your car out of the garage, our minds rely on numerous habits every day in order to free their mental capacity to deal with other tasks. Think of habit loops as automations your mind develops as you live your life.
As I progressed along the pages, with a great sense of enthusiasm, I might add, at all this new, interesting information, an idea sparked into my mind. A thought deep in my mind linked this information to how Steph Curry shoots his threes and how "automatic and effortless" his ball release appears to the casual observer. I also linked this idea of building habits, and the habit loop mentioned in the book, to learning chess openings. I recalled to myself that once I learnt the basic lines of the Accelerated London System for White, and faced many opponents with it, its development on my side had become sort of "automatic", possibly due to playing it so much.
Once my mind was done wandering on its own about where else this habit loop may be effective, I thought to myself, why don't I run an experiment in due time? Can I use this exact methodology of "cue - routine - reward" to train an entirely new habit of shooting threes?
Excited at the possibility of randomly becoming a great 3-point shooter in my mid-thirties, I picked up my smartphone, went to my notes app, and what originally should have been a quick idea bank one-pointer, "test 3-point shooting enhancement via the habit loop", developed into what you're reading now.
I'll put down my virtual thumbs for now as I continue learning more.
To be continued.
A.Z.